The City Founder
In 1860 the village of Wiesdorf was chosen by the pharmacist Carl Leverkus to establish a dye factory and he gave the name Leverkusen to the estate which grew up around the plant. The city of Leverkusen was not founded until 1930 when Wiesdorf and other villages merged.
Bayer’s Big Discovery
The chemical and pharmaceutical company Bayer AG, which was founded in 1863, is headquartered in Leverkusen. In 1897, Bayer began to win its battle against pain. Felix Hoffmann developed the first painkiller with minimal side effects - Aspirin. The sales figures proved sensational, and the drug became the best-selling medicine on the market. 12,000 of the 50,000 tons of Aspirin produced each year are today still made by Bayer.
A Cross in the Sky
The Bayer-Kreuz is one of the largest illuminated advertising signs in the world and an unmistakable landmark in the Leverkusen night sky. It was installed in 1958 and shows the logo of the Bayer company. Before a general overhaul it took 1,712 40-watt bulbs to light the display.
More Than Just Soccer
In 1904 Bayer founded the sports club TuS 04, which became TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 1984. It is one of the largest sports clubs in Germany and has been involved in many other sports besides soccer, such as track and field and basketball.
Dirk Was Not the First
Detlef Schrempf, Germany’s first basketball superstar, started his career as a youth player with Bayer 04 Leverkusen. He won consecutive NBA Sixth Man awards in 1990 and 1991 and played in the All-Star Game in 1993.
Broken Dreams
The soccer team of Bayer 04 Leverkusen has become known as “Neverkusen” oder “Vizekusen” because of its failures to lift a trophy. They became branded as the ultimate underachievers when they lost – in just a matter of weeks – the German Cup, the German Bundesliga championship and the Champions League final in 2002.
The Bay(er) Arena
The BayArena has a capacity of 30,000. Rarely can you experience top-flight soccer so up close as in this “little gem” which served as a venue for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup . The stadium was originally known as Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion, named after a former chairman of Bayer AG, the club's founders.